MILWAUKEE — The trip began with a gut punch of a loss in New York.
It ended Wednesday with the Braves’ fourth win in five games, with the team defeating the Brewers 6-2 to win the series at American Family Field.
“That was a rough loss, that first game in New York,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We bounced back at the end of that first. (The Brewers are) obviously a first-place club, so this is a good series win.”
And all of a sudden, the Braves are only 6-1/2 games behind the first-place Phillies in the National League East standings.
Here are five observations:
1. It is true: You never know what you might see at the ballpark on a given day.
And on Wednesday, Matt Olson and Travis d’Arnaud did something rare: They hit back-to-back home runs – twice!
They did it in the fourth inning – to tie the score – and then again in the eighth inning.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before,” d’Arnaud said. “I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. I was hoping maybe three times, but I’ll take two.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done that,” Olson said. “When Travy hit the second one, that was really cool.”
Olson and d’Arnaud are the third pair of Braves to hit back-to-back homers twice in one game since the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966. The others: Fred McGriff and David Justice in 1993, then Javy Lopez and Andruw Jones in 1998.
Since 1961, a pair of teammates had gone back to back only twice in the same game 22 times, including three times last season.
Then Olson and d’Arnaud added to that list.
2. The Braves on Wednesday debuted a new lineup – one with Jorge Soler batting leadoff. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout, but it was a massive walk.
With two outs in the seventh inning, Soler stepped into the batter’s box to face Brewers left-handed reliever Jared Koenig. Soler eventually had a 2-2 count on him before working the six-pitch walk.
“And that’s the thing about him that we saw when he was here before, that he takes his walks,” Snitker said. “He’s not just a wild swinger.”
That brought up Austin Riley, who grounded a two-run single between the third baseman and shortstop off of newly entered Elvis Peguero.
“That was a really good at-bat,” Snitker said. “It was kind of like, with those guys stacked up there in the top of the order, that’s tough sledding for a pitcher.”
The other change to the lineup: Whit Merrifield started at second base after the club optioned Nacho Alvarez Jr. to Gwinnett. Alvarez seemed like he could use more seasoning at Triple-A. The Braves couldn’t make this move until Wednesday because Merrifield hadn’t been able to play the field after injuring his finger on the first day he reported to the Braves.
He had one hit, and it was huge: Merrifield singled in the seventh inning to set up Soler, who then set the table for Riley.
3. To begin his outing, starting pitcher Chris Sale gave up three consecutive hits – the last of which scored a run. He eventually allowed two runs in this first inning.
The game could’ve spiraled from there.
But this is Sale. He competes. He lives for the moments of adversity. He embraces the challenge.
And, of course, he never surrendered another run while pitching 5-2/3 innings.
“Well, he’s one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever been around, and I think he lives for that,” Snitker said. “That’s kind of why he does this. Every fifth day, or sixth day, or whatever it is, man, he shows up and leaves it all out there every time.”
Sale has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his past nine starts, dating to June 7. He settled in, and in time, the offense responded by taking the lead and creating a nice cushion.
And now, that offense has added Soler to the top.
“I’m just glad I’m on the same side of the lineup card, that’s for sure,” Sale said. “This, for sure, is a tough lineup to navigate. Top to bottom, you’ve got guys that can put one in the seats. And just having professional at-bats throughout the lineup. That’s why we’ve never lost confidence.”
4. Here comes Olson.
In his past eight games, dating to June 24, he’s gone 9-for-31 with four homers. This was an encouraging road trip after his struggles.
“It’s great,” d’Arnaud said. “He was such a big, vital part of our offense last year, and obviously things haven’t been going the way he’s been wanting (them) to. But I think he deserves all the praise for being the same guy every day, regardless of not playing up to his standard. And he always continued to work. So to see some results starting to come, it’s very encouraging, and we’re all happy for him.”
5. An underrated play: With the score tied in the bottom of the fourth, Sal Frelick hit a ball to left field off Sale. Frelick tried to stretch it into a double, but Eddie Rosario wisely threw the ball to second base for the out.
The Brewers would’ve had men on second and third base with no outs against Sale. Instead, there was one out with a man on third.
Sale escaped unscathed.
“That was big. And obviously, after the inning, I let him know that that was big,” Sale said. “That kind of changes the landscape of the game right there. Working only really needing two outs with a guy on third base as opposed to, you know, they can do something with some kind of small ball, a bunt, things like that. That was something really big in the middle of the game that shouldn’t be overlooked.”
Stat to know
10-0 – Sale didn’t receive the win in this game, but he’s 10-0 in starts against opponents with a winning record this season. Entering Wednesday, he was the only pitcher in MLB this season to start at least 10 games against above-.500 opponents and not take a loss.
Quotable
“Not a fun leadoff guy. You see it around the league with some of these other teams doing the same thing, but you got a presence like that leading off the game, you gotta have your stuff together right out of the gate.” – Sale on Soler
Up next
Charlie Morton will start Thursday’s series opener versus the Marlins. First pitch is at 7:20 p.m.
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